The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for producing pastilles.
A method and apparatus of this type has been previously known from German Patents No. 28 53 054 and No. 29 41 802 which, in turn, correspond to U.S. Pat. No. 4,279,579. In the case of these known concepts, the viscous mass is guided in tubular bodies which are designed in such a manner that, due to a certain overpressure prevailing inside the rotating tubular bodies, the mass is extruded downwardly in the form of drops every time the holes of the two tubular bodies come into alignment with each other. The drops so formed fall onto a cooling conveyor, where they are flattened a little through their own weight, and solidify thereafter to form the desired, as a rule substantially lentil-shaped, pastilles.
This way of producing pastilles, which is dependant on the formation of drops, requires that the passage openings in the outer rotating tubular body have certain minimum diameters. Consequently, the size of the pastilles that can be produced is limited, at the lower end of the scale.